Hi everyone! I'm brand-new to the site and brand-new to the world of incubating chickens as well! My four-year-old son and I ordered an R-Com three-egg incubator a few weeks ago and had our first successful hatch yesterday. My avatar shows the picture of our bantam sultan we are naming "Pip."
I only wish I'd found this site sooner because we lost the other two eggs due to some type of humidity problem at hatch time and I didn't realize what was happening. I searched the internet all yesterday and this morning but I was never searching the right terms. When "Pip" was pipped and hatching, the other two eggs were still peeping and moving around but I'd found conflicting info about what to do after a hatch. I followed the advice I now regret, which was to let the hatching chick dry out and fluff up in the incubator but then put it in the brooder. I realize after the fact that I should've preserved the humidity and temp and waited until everyone hatched before I opened the lid. I was searching Google for things like "incubating egg stopped rolling and peeping" and I wasn't able to find any matches. Finally this afternoon, a full 24 hours after the eggs stopped peeping, did I find this site's incubation section. I realize if I would've done a search for "should I help my egg hatch" I probably would've gotten a million responses.
Anyway, it looks like Pip will be an only child for now and in addition to our introduction, I wonder if anyone could/would advise the purchase of another day-old chick to keep Pip company? He seems awfully lonely in the brooder. I feel sad because when I did attempt the emergency hatch assistance on the two eggs, I saw beautiful fully-formed chicks that probably would've made it had I helped them sooner. I just didn't know what to do. I really thought that maybe they were sleeping or resting --- searched that, too, to no avail.
Anyway, looking forward to many more hatches and looking forward to meeting you and boucing ideas off each other as well!
I only wish I'd found this site sooner because we lost the other two eggs due to some type of humidity problem at hatch time and I didn't realize what was happening. I searched the internet all yesterday and this morning but I was never searching the right terms. When "Pip" was pipped and hatching, the other two eggs were still peeping and moving around but I'd found conflicting info about what to do after a hatch. I followed the advice I now regret, which was to let the hatching chick dry out and fluff up in the incubator but then put it in the brooder. I realize after the fact that I should've preserved the humidity and temp and waited until everyone hatched before I opened the lid. I was searching Google for things like "incubating egg stopped rolling and peeping" and I wasn't able to find any matches. Finally this afternoon, a full 24 hours after the eggs stopped peeping, did I find this site's incubation section. I realize if I would've done a search for "should I help my egg hatch" I probably would've gotten a million responses.
Anyway, it looks like Pip will be an only child for now and in addition to our introduction, I wonder if anyone could/would advise the purchase of another day-old chick to keep Pip company? He seems awfully lonely in the brooder. I feel sad because when I did attempt the emergency hatch assistance on the two eggs, I saw beautiful fully-formed chicks that probably would've made it had I helped them sooner. I just didn't know what to do. I really thought that maybe they were sleeping or resting --- searched that, too, to no avail.
Anyway, looking forward to many more hatches and looking forward to meeting you and boucing ideas off each other as well!
